Pratt residents are used to the 672 prefix in telephone numbers but now Channel 672 is coming to Cable TV from Pratt Community College.

William Wojciechowski, president of PCC, shared the current status of the project with the PCC Board of Trustees at their regular monthly meeting Monday night.

Wojciechowski said he and Kent Adams, PCC vice president for finance and operations approached the Pratt Area Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Board with an initiative for the college to sponsor a community cable TV channel.

The purpose of the channel will be to provide a means for the college to present a variety of local activities and events to the community.

Among the show possibilities are school board meetings for the college, USDs and other organizations, church sermons, hospital programs, civic action, cultural events and many more options.

"It's a channel that's devoted to keeping the community informed on what's going on," Wojciechowski said.

The college would expand their current broadcast and journalism classes to include the new TV channel. The college would also like to get journalism students from both Pratt and Skyline involved as well.

Wojciechowski said he and Adams were not getting far with the Chamber so they talked with Cox Communications about what the college would have to do to start a community cable TV channel.

Cox said a study would have to be done to see if a cable channel was feasible.

It took four months before the PCC study was done but the results were good.

The college will have to lay some fiber optic cable, purchase some new equipment and do some small modifications to a former dark room on campus.

It will take a couple of months to get the cable laid.

The cable will cost about $14,000, the equipment about $13,000 plus about $3,000 in other expenses will get Channel 672 on the air for a total of $30,000, Wojciechowski said.

Now the college is meeting with the Economic Development Board and discussing sponsorships.

The channel can't have advertising so it has to rely on sponsorships for operations.

Response has been positive for sponsorships to handle operation costs. "We feel all the costs will be covered," Wojciechowski said.

The college has been in communication with the city about the project and City Manager Dave Howard has been very supportive of the project.

The channel will be limited to the Cox Communication cable coverage area and will not be available to rural areas.

Cox has around 2,400 subscribers in Pratt.

In other action the Board approved a revision of an administrative policy for processing students complaints.

The policy revises a former policy that defines a formal student complaint, details the process of reporting, tracking and resolving the complaint. It also details the retention of records for a student complaint.